Arizona wildfire that burned Grand Canyon lodge closes North Rim for rest of 2025 season: Live updates – UK Times

The National Parks Service announced today that the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park will remain closed for the rest of its 2025 operating season.

The Dragon Bravo fire burned the historic Grand Canyon Lodge as well as numerous park buildings and cabins.

Dolores Garcia, a spokesperson for the Arizona Bureau of Land Management, told FOX 10 Phoenix that the rugged terrain near the Grand Canyon made it difficult for firefighters to get into place to fight the White Sage wildfire.

“Especially in terrain that may be a little bit more rough and a little bit more difficult for firefighters to get into or may take a little bit more time for them to get into,” she said.

Garcia also revealed that state officials had to track down campers at remote campsites to ensure they received evacuation notices.

“Early in the phases of the earliest evacuations, we were having to go to campsites and some of the dispersed camping areas to assist with the evacuation and make some of those notifications,” she said.

The Grand Canyon Lodge was operated by a company called Aramark for the National Parks Service.

The company issued a statement acknowledging the burning of the lodge.

“We are devastated by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge and numerous other historic buildings at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim,” Debbie Albert, an Aramark spokesperson, said. “We are grateful that all of our employees and guests have been safely evacuated, and we join the National Park Service in mourning the loss of these iconic and beloved structures.”

As summer temperatures begin to rise and another dangerous wildfire season looms, a new report warns the U.S. is underprepared due to sweeping budget and staffing cuts under the Trump administration.

Federal agencies are grappling with reduced workforces, diminished resources, and weakened emergency infrastructure just as extreme summer heat and drought are taking hold of many states out West. Experts and current firefighters say the situation is dire.

“If this turns out to be a major fire year, it’s going to be a s*** show,” Dr. Hugh Safford, a fire ecologist and former U.S. Forest Service (USFS) official, told The Guardian. Safford spent more than two decades working for the service before retiring in 2021.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said she was “saddened” by the Dragon Bravo wildfire’s destruction of historic buildings — including the Grand Canyon Lodge — at Grand Canyon National Park.

“I am incredibly saddened by the destruction of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, and my heart goes out to every person impacted by the Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon’s North Rim,” she wrote on X. “Thank you to every firefighter and first responder taking action to combat the flames.”

She then called into question the initial response by federal authorities after lightning ignited Dragon Bravo fire on July 4:

“An incident of this magnitude demands intense oversight and scrutiny into the federal government’s emergency response. They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage. But Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park.”

“While the flame was started with a lightning strike, the federal government chose to manage that fire as a controlled burn during the driest, hottest part of the Arizona summer. I am calling on the federal government for a comprehensive and independent investigation into the management of the Fire and a report detailing the decisions that led to this devastating outcome.”

Senator Ruben Gallego and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said they planned to investigate the National Parks Service’s early response to the Drago Bravo fire to determine what impact, if any, it had on the blaze’s eventually spread.

“Because of the Dragon Bravo Fire, Arizona lost more than a historic lodge, it lost a piece of our state history,” Gallego wrote on X. “As Governor Hobbs has rightly called for, there must be a comprehensive, independent investigation into the handling of fire and the rationale for treating it as a controlled burn— especially as Arizona experiences the driest, hardest part of summer. I will do my part on the federal level to get answers.”

The Dragon Bravo and White Sage fires have prompted closures across the northern edge of Grand Canyon National Park.

The closures include call of the inner corridor hiking trails, all campgrounds and all other interior areas including the North and South Kaibab Trails, the Phantom Ranch, and Bright Angel Trail below Havasupai Gardens, according to the NPS.